Digicel Wants Guyana Telephone And Telegraph’s Monopoly Lifted

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, January 31, 2020 (CMC) – Gregory Dean, the Chief Executive Officer of the telecommunications company, Digicel Guyana, is urging the authorities to move towards liberalising the sector, after a petition was posted on social media, urging Guyanese to end the monopoly status of the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company’s (GTT).

In a statement welcoming the “LiberalisationNOW” petition, Dean said “the response…clearly shows that Guyanese are sick of being left behind and missing out on the opportunities that come with a digital economy”.

“Guyanese are calling on all our leaders to take the necessary steps to eliminate the monopoly, immediately, and liberalise our telecommunications market, so that other companies can roll out the services that Guyanese have waited, far too long for,” he said, urging people to sign the petition.

“Guyanese deserve better. Efforts to end the monopoly have been ongoing for over 20 years. There is no time like the present, to end the monopoly. We need liberalisation now,” he said.

Those behind the petition say they plan to send the document to the political parties contesting the March 2 regional and general election. They say they intend to do so by February 8.

In its statement, Digicel said with the legislation ending the telephone monopoly being passed, over three years ago, by Parliament and assented to by the President, there is still no progress, since the legislation has not been made law.

“The people of Guyana are tired of poor, unreliable broadband services and remote communities not being able to realise the dream of modern communications in their homes, and are fed up of limited choice and not having the benefits of true competition,” Digicel said, adding that it believes that there is need for the issuance of a commencement order, by the Minister responsible for the sector.

The Irish-owned telecommunication company said that bringing Guyana’s communications into the 21^st century will more than improve the lives of citizens.

“It’s essential to developing the economy – especially now that oil production has begun with the first million barrels, recently sold. As things stand, Guyana’s communication services are nowhere near ready to take full advantage of this development.”

Digicel was also critical of Guyana being unable to achieve universal landline coverage that was promised when the monopoly went into effect, almost three decades ago.

“If landline service has long been underwhelming, Guyana’s broadband service is even worse. Fibre optic service can be found in limited pockets in Georgetown and some surrounding communities, while DSL has slowly crept across the country on poorly maintained copper networks. It’s simply not good enough,” Digicel said.